On Occurrence In New York At Four Forty-Five Pm On March 25th 1911

An Occurrence in New York at 4.45 pm on March 25th, 1911 True faith, liberty, the flag, our holy soil! Is it the cause that grants the martyr’s crown? Should martyrs owe this crown to tyrants or some evil foe? Are banality, indifference and callousness less cruel? Anno Domini nineteen eleven was the year, (on Annunciation Day according to the Church), Greenwich Village in New York the place, an overcrowded sweatshop on a ninth floor the scene, a quarter to five on Saturday, the Sabbath, the hour, when it befell, ‘it’ being in this case, as the annals state, ‘the worst industrial accident’ this great city ever knew. The culprit was probably an unextinguished cigarette thrown nonchalantly into a bin of discarded bits of cloth. One hundred and forty-six young workers, mostly women, realized too late their hopeless plight. Hopeless, but why? Their employers, with healthy profits and public order in mind, to prevent the pilfering of garments and skiving before five, prudently kept all exits from the shop floor firmly locked. A young man and his girlfriend embraced before they leapt. It was anonymity for the rest, no parting dirge or priest to bless, unlike Saint Joan suffering at the stake Forgotten, did they suffer less?